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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Onset of the monsoon

The great joy is here! Here is the story from the Deccan Herald.

India's southwest monsoon keeps its dateThiruvananthapuram, IANS:The southwest monsoon, which brings the eagerly awaited rainy season vital for India's agriculture, set in over Kerala on Saturday, within the range of expected onset, bringing relief from oppressive heat.

According to observations at 8.30 a.m., it covered most parts of the south Arabian Sea, Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu, parts of the southwest and west central Bay of Bengal, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

It pointed out that the conditions were favourable for further advance of monsoon into some more parts of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu and some parts of Karnataka and northeastern states in the next two to three days.

The IMD had earlier predicted the monsoon onset over Kerala would be on May 29 with a model error of plus or minus four days.

In 2007, IMD predicted the monsoon onset on May 24 and the actual date was four days.

Current meteorological analysis and numerical weather prediction models suggest that isolated to scattered rain or thundershowers activity accompanied with thunder squall are likely over plains of northwest India during next three to four days.

Scattered rain/thundershowers activity accompanied with strong thunder squall are also likely over West Bengal, Sikkim and Orissa during the next 48 hour